Agents: Allegiances
by Stormhawk
Summary: Mero wants the Programmer, so he kidnaps Hummer and Nat.


**Title: **Allegiances

**Author:** Stormhawk

**Rating: **PG

**Disclaimer: **

Matrix universe and associated characters: Wachowski brothers. 

ATS universe: co-owned by me and Mordax. 

Stef, Hummer, Nat, Charlie, Vorateu, Creeper: Me

**Word Count: **9174****

**Summary: **Desperate to get his hands on the Programmer the Merovingian has the Twins kidnap Hummer and Nathaniel so he organize a swap. ****

**Notes:** Yay! Hummer and Nat get more than five seconds of screen…er…fic time. 

It's exile-centric and I'm introducing a couple of new exiles, including a major vamp called Vorateu, whose name is pronounced Vor-R-two ok? 

**Please read and Review.**

The backdoor hallway looked the same as it always did, bright and white. What was happening, however had not happened before. The agent raised the standard issue gun at the exile. 

"You don't want to do that," the old lady said as Mimosa rose her gun.

"And why not?" she asked, it was the Oracle. The program that helped humans.

"Because you couldn't handle the consequences."

"I'm sure I could manage. It would make the rebellion suffer."

"That is a point, the one thing you have to consider is that I'm an exile. If you betray one of us, you betray all of us."

"I'm going to pull this trigger." She said as she undid the safety with her thumb.

"And tell them what exactly?"

"What is there to tell?"

"You'd have to tell them where you shot me. You'd have to reveal all you know. Are you ready to betray the exiles?"

"Only the traitors. Like you who help the humans."

"You aren't bothered one bit that you used to be one of them are you?"

"This is what I was meant to be."

"Then prove it, prove that you standing for something and don't pull the trigger. You do and they'll all die."

Stef tightened the grip on her Desert Eagle, she wanted to shoot the program that helped the humans but if she wasn't lying…she wasn't going to take the chance that it could lead to the exile's downfall. 

That would mean Hummer would die, Nathaniel would die before his fifth birthday and there wouldn't be a grim reaper with a sense of humor, even if it was slightly dark sometimes, but you had to like a guy who played poker for M&M's with a hippy. 

Lowering the gun was one of the hardest thing she had ever had to do. "Damn you."

The old program smiled, "I knew you'd do that."

"How could you? I didn't even know." Stef muttered darkly as the old woman unlocked a door and disappeared. Cursing to herself she turned and walked down the infinite hall toward the unique door – the one with the peace sign stickers.

Knocking once before pushing the key into the lock she opened it to Hummer's small apartment. Nat ran over and jumped into her arms, the small boy had chocolate all over his face and dried paint on his shirt.

"For the last time little dude give me my shorts," Hummer said as he walked over to them. 

"I thought it was a hat," Stef said as she peeled the tie-dyed boxer shorts from his head and handed them to the hippy.

"Thanks kitty."

"My pleasure dude."

"Come see my painting," Nat said as he jumped down. Pushing the door close, it stopped a couple of inches short. She only had a second to wonder what was going on before it was burst in.

Helping Hummer up off the floor she looked at the intruders. "What the hell are you two doing?" she demanded as the Twins walked in. The albino brothers shared a glance before ghosting. 

Two ghosted straight through her and went after Nat. Drawing her gun, she aimed it at One as he solidified, unfortunately he became solid again right behind Hummer. Quicker than even an agent could react he held his pearl-handled razor at the surfer's throat.

Hummer didn't dare move. "Drop the gun," One demanded as Two came back out carrying Nathaniel with his white hand clamped over his mouth. 

Not wanting Hummer to get hurt, she dropped her gun but moved between them and the door. "What are you doing?"

"We're under orders," One said simply. "Get out of…"

"Our way," Two finished.

"Let them go or I'll kill you." She said, deadly serious.

Two snorted, "unlikely. None of your kind has managed it yet."

He was right, being ghosts they were hard to kill. Near impossible actually. Whipping her key from the door she held it up, it was her last bargaining chip. "Let them go or I give this to the mainframe."  

The attack came from behind, someone cracked her over the head with something heavy and she blacked out. 

Waking up an unknown amount of time later she found herself in the backdoor hallway, her key was missing. Whoever had hit her over the head was going to pay. 

Requiring a watch she found that she couldn't have been out for more than twenty minutes at the most. Standing and reaching over to pull the handle of the door open she found it stuck tight.

Jiggling the knob an ominous feeling came over her, if she didn't have her key she couldn't get back into the main part of the Matrix, she was stuck there until an exile decided to open a door. 

There was no telling how long that would take.

Unfortunately it didn't take that long. A door opened up close to her and the old lady looked down to the floor.

She smiled at the agent, "you need some help?"

"I said I wasn't going to shoot you – that doesn't mean I'm going to be nice to you."

"I'm an exile who helps rebels, you're an agent who helps exiles. I'd say we're fairly even kid."

"Just give me your key and I'll leave you alone."

"I have a feeling that it's going to take more than a key to solve this, come in here."

Stef grit her teeth, it was taking all of her will power not to shoot her already. 

"You're not going to shoot me, I can tell you that much. Now come in here before I leave you here all alone." She looked satisfied when the younger program shot her a poisonous look.

Stef pushed herself to her feet and slogged her way into the Oracle's apartment. It was quiet; there was no one else there. 

The old woman turned and turned on the kettle. "Have a seat."

It wasn't so different to the history that had never happened, but the tablecloth had been changed. "Where are all the kids?"

"I'm not watching any today, there are no potentials for me to see anymore since we found Neo, the ones that come here now are just waiting to be freed."

"You're not going to win the war."

"Even I don't know who's going to win." The kettle clicked off and she poured two cups of coffee. 

Contemplating the dark liquid she shook her head, "the human race sucks."

"Get yourself a cookie and we'll have a little talk."

What kind of screwed up… was Jonas doing this? Did she really just…? "The cookie jar is on your left," she said with a smile as she lit a cigarette. 

"Huh?"

"The bottle with the blue flowers on it."

Looking numbly to her left she saw a clear bottle with a pretty floral design on it. Unscrewing the lid she fished out a cookie. "Hummer likes them too."

"You know Hummer?"

"Sweet kid, one of the good ones but we'll get to that in a minute."

Stef bit into the cookie, "I don't believe I'm actually doing this. If Smith found out he'd delete me in a second."

"There's no need to worry about him at the moment."

"Aren't you supposed to hand out mystical advice or something? Cause you don't seem that mysterious to me."

"I think plain and simple works better for you." 

"Yeah? How would you know?"

"Trust me kiddo, I know."

"You wanted to say something?"

"You feel betrayed, you hate the resistance because they left you behind."

How did she know that? It didn't matter, it was the truth. "They abandoned me, they left me to die. 'Sorry kid we're too busy saving our own lives so we're gonna run away now, the guy with the big gun is going to blow your head off and we don't care.' Yeah, I'd say I feel betrayed."

"They think you're the traitor for going over to the agents."

"I don't believe I'm talking to you about this. But I'm glad it happened this way, I don't think I was ever meant to be human. As stupid as that sounds."

"That may not be as stupid as it sounds."

Devouring the rest of the cookie she shook herself from her thoughts of the past, the present was what mattered "there is a kid and a hippy that I need to help."

"You're not going to like what I have to say."

"Oh crap." Now she was going to say something she didn't want to hear.

"He's a power broker, The Merovingian, he deals in power. All he does it get more of it, Nathaniel, he represents something powerful that he does not yet control. He is the most dangerous exile there is, even more so than the vampires, werewolves and ghosts, they do what they do because that is what they are. He does it for himself, it's all he cares about."

"Nat's testing the code that will help to hide you."

"Yes, something the Programmer wants to give all the exiles, he wants us to be able to be free to live without fear. Without fear of the agents and the system. Can you imagine what would happen if the Merovingian got his hands on the Programmer and he worked solely for him?"

"Then no other exiles would ever get the code. They'd still be in danger."

"Exactly kiddo, he wants the programmer but he's not without his own skills. He is almost as old as I and has spent many years acquiring new talents. Programming is among them. If he doesn't get the programmer than he'll take that little boy apart to get what he needs."

"Mero maybe a sleazy ass wipe but I didn't think he would murder a kid. He usually gets other people to do his dirty work." She knew cause she had been one of his bodyguards and they were the ones who did everything for him. 

"He will do anything to get what he wants. Nathaniel may survive the process but it's the condition he's in at the end of it that worries me."

"Can't he just wait like everyone else?"

"No – if he can't control it he won't let anyone have it. We lost the Keymaker to him, we can't afford to lose the Programmer."

"The Keymaker…the small Asian guy he's got locked in the dungeon. I know about him." 

"Where do you think all the backdoor keys came from?"

"Charlie?"

"Oh heavens no, the keys he has are ones left over from when the Keymaker was free. What happens when they run out I'm afraid to think of."

"Do you know where the Programmer is?"

"Yes, but I'm not going to tell you."

Mimosa's face turned to stone, "why not?"

"The reason he took the boys is so that the Programmer will…he wants him to trade himself in for the other two."

"I know why he took Nat, why'd he take Hummer as well?"

"It's enough to say that Hummer is good and Mero is bad."

"So how do we…I…how do I get them back?"

"No price is losing the Programmer to the Merovingian. No price agent."

"Then why exactly have we been talking?" Stef spat at her, all this talk and it had been to lead up to the fact that there was no hope of finding no hope. 

"So you could understand that."

"You want me to let them die or rot away in the dungeons of his chateau?"

"If he gets the Programmer under his control everything is lost, he will be able to control the Matrix. He will have programs written for him that will be able to destroy things just by looking at them. He would be able to challenge the Mainframe and maybe even the source."

"The what?"

"The source created the Matrix, this scenario was my idea – the perfect Matrix failed miserably – he is above the mainframe in the hierarchy."

Oh, she hadn't known that. But that wasn't important at the moment. "Then what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"You'll think of something. If not…" the Oracle shrugged her shoulders. 

"Key," Stef hissed at her. 

Nodding, she pulled a sewing box from the top of the fridge; under the needles and cottons there was a simple silver key. "Here. You'd best be going now."

"Why?"

"Just a feeling."

Walking back over to the door that they had come through, it was the door to a spare bedroom; she pushed it into the lock and went into the backdoors. 

Seconds after it closed the old lady looked up at the man who had walked into her kitchen. She smiled as he sat down, "hello Neo – how are you?"

*****

The hallway was different somehow. If an infinite hall could seem longer than it was. She had a sense that this was the entire backdoors and what she had been privileged to before was only a portion of it. Looking a little down the hall she saw another corridor. 

"Cool," she uttered. So there was more than one hallway. She had only ever seen the one; it had to be this new key. Exiles were indeed very good at keeping their secrets.

The smile was wiped off her face as she realized exactly why she had a new key. 

Mero.

He would pay for kidnapping Hummer and Nat. She would make him pay. 

Finding her way back to Hummer's apartment she rummaged around in the kitchen drawer and found what she was looking for. The Death Key, whenever Hummer was at home he left it in the third drawer, with the pizza coupons, as it was the last place anyone would look for something as important as that. And it was important, as there were only two of them in the whole Matrix. 

Closing the door she pocketed her regular backdoors key and pushed it into the lock. Opening it she walked into the blue room. 

Looking around, Charlie wasn't in there. 

Charlie liked to think of himself as the Grim Reaper, but having ditched robes and a scythe the essence had kind of been lost. Though he did give programs the choice to live or die. 

One of the doors ringing the room was a slightly different blue; he must be in that one talking to a program. That usually didn't take very long, just a perfect memory then a choice. Walking up to his desk she sat down on the chair. She hoped he wasn't long, no telling what Mero would do to her friends if she didn't get there in time.  

His slim laptop seemed out of place on the ornate desk. It had a screensaver going, it was the old 'flying through space' one. Deciding she was not going to stare at that until he came back into his room she touched the scroll ball and it flicked back to life. 

But instead of a desktop a user interface showed up. It was Charlie's exile database. 

Brown, or any of the agents would give up vital pieces of their programming to get their hands on this. She clicked the 'Show All' button and waited until it loaded. 

It was a list of hyperlinks. A tally down the bottom showed every living exile out there. "Cool," she had to utter. There were just over ten thousand exiles, the agency database, which she planned on studying in her free time, only had around a quarter of that number.

"I knew it!" Charlie yelled as he came back into the room. "Thought you could catch us off guard did you? Get away from that laptop!" 

"Charlie settle down!" she said as she backed away from it showing she meant no harm. "I, for the last time, will not betray the exiles." Charlie was absolutely paranoid sometimes.

"Yeah? Then where's Hummer?" 

"The Merovingian kidnapped him and Nathaniel. I need your help." 

"You just want more time with that database. You probably killed them." 

"How the hell could you say that? They are my friends." 

"Because you're an agent and they're exiles."

"Just for one damn minute ignore the fact that I am wearing a suit. Mero kidnapped them." 

Charlie stopped and considered this; all the exiles knew the Frenchman's reputation. "Mero's got them?" The Merovingian was a truly dangerous program; it was far from beyond him to kidnap other programs.  

"The twins got them, like an hour ago or something." Just as much as she hated her friends being gone she hated the fact that One and Two had been the ones to do it, they were cool, they really were. They hated Mero like many of his guards and worked for him simply for the paycheck and benefits. And who wouldn't like a pair of ghosts that listened to heavy metal?

"What does he want with them?"

"He wants the programmer. He wants a trade." 

"I can't give the programmer up, not even for Hummer or Nat." 

"The Oracle already told me that, got any bright ideas? Cause otherwise they are dead."

"You need to get into the chateau, which is impossible unless you have one of his keys. It's got firewalls to prevent just anyone from getting in." 

"You know what Charlie?" Stef said as she stormed out the door. "You've been a lot of help." 

She walked down the corridor and realized there were only two other places Mero or his henchmen could usually be found at. She dismissed the restaurant because that was where he conducted his business and with her two friends he probably had a clear schedule today.

"Club Hel," she to herself. That wouldn't be too hard to get to, there was a backdoor that led out right near it. Club Hel was owned by Mero, all manner of exiles and some less-than-normal humans frequented. It was where he employed a lot of his guards from. It had been cool enough, the music rocked and lasers were excellent. And the company had always been interesting, exiles were always interesting. 

She was probably the only agent who thought that. 

Stef stopped walking in the middle of the hall. 

She was an agent. 

Agents were supposed to get rid of exiles; it was their other main task besides the rebels. And she was friends with them, not that they weren't good people but they were enemies nonetheless. 

Did she even know what she was doing? Probably not. 

No one can play two sides in a war and win but she wanted to at least try. 

It was as bad as being friends with rebels. She snorted, the Exodus crew – but they were collaborators so it was slightly different. But she hadn't dealt with the Oracle, which was a major deal. 

She really didn't want to think about what Smith would think if he found out. She didn't want to tell him but she wasn't sure if she could lie to him about it, or even keep it from him forever. 

She was confused, the problem was mind-boggling but there had to be an answer. 

"Screw it," she said and headed off to the backdoor. She needed to help her friends and she'd deal with the consequences later. 

The second she stepped from the backdoors she required a different outfit. Agent suits with exiles are usually a sign to shoot-and-don't-stop-shooting or dealing with them however they dealt with their enemies. 

She walked up to the line at the door, headed by two large bouncers, dropped a bundle of hundred dollar notes on their clipboard and walked in without a problem.

The multi-colored lasers zigzagged the darkened club, highlighting the black pants and blue jacket she had required. Then one washed right over her, turning her vision fluorescent for a moment as it obscured her eyesight. Then several red lights caught onto her body and she was sure that these lasers weren't for fun.

They were the laser sightings of three high-powered rifles held by three tough looking exiles. Apparently the club lasers were for more than just visual appeal, apparently they identified codes, and a few trace exile markers weren't enough to deflect what was otherwise an almost perfect agent code. 

"Take me to Mero," she said before a firefight started. The one in front nodded and the other two flanked her as they walked up to the top floor of the club as where the underworld king could observe his club. She let her arms rest at her side she held one closer beside her body, feeling the Desert Eagle there, stowed away in its usual place – just there in case she needed to…_deal_…with any of these people. Which was far from improbable. 

The Merovingian folded his arms across his chest as she came up the spiral stairs. "Where's the programmer?" he demanded straight away. 

"Where are my friends?" she retorted. 

He sighed, and relaxed back into his plush leather chair and took a sip of his wine. "Back at the Agency I would assume. Isn't that where you people live?" He smirked, thinking he had the upper hand.

"If you want idle chit-chat I can easily go get one of them for you. Else we talk business." 

"Fine. Cause, I want the programmer. Effect, I take your friends. Cause, the child has within him the subroutine I want. Effect, bring me the programmer or I take it out of him. Cause and effect," he tilted his head side to side as he stated each one. 

"Cause, you hurt my friends. Effect, I kill you." 

"Don't threaten me," he said. "Especially when you are surrounded by my loyal employees," he said gesturing to the exiles ringing the floor. "It's a simple business transaction. Your friends for the programmer. If not, cause and effect." 

"Three things, one you are heartless bastard; two, I hate your cause and effect speeches; three, you aren't getting the programmer." 

"Then I believe we are finished."

"Yeah, I'd say so." 

"Kill her." 

Stef didn't even blink as the exiles charged her. Fighting each one with precision, all were injured or unconscious on the floor when she required another gun and stepped forward toward Mero. 

"Where are they?" she asked with the gun less than two inches from his skull. 

For a moment fear flickered in his eyes but then an oily smile spread across his lips. Stef didn't even have a chance to wonder what he was smiling at before she felt the blade at her throat. She leant back so the razor didn't slit it open and found herself restrained against one of the twins, from this vantage point she didn't even trying to bother about guessing which it was. 

"Your razor can't hurt me," she said. Well, it was just a knife; one quick shift and she'd be good as new. 

One held his arm tighter across her chest and scratched it across her forearm, just a light cut. And it was into code, not just into flesh. A gulp told him the message had gotten through and he brought it back up to her throat. 

Well, maybe not as good as new. Damn code weapons. 

"Well?" Mero asked, as the twins made no further movement. 

Two, the one not holding the razor, looked at his watch. "We aren't on duty for thirty seconds." 

"Just do it, I'll give you each a bonus." 

The twins looked at each other and shrugged, One flicked his wrist, but at the same time Stef shot so he was forced to phase. Hitting the ground, her first impulse was to shift. 

But the damn club had a firewall around it. There were many different types of firewall, this one probably just prevented shifts and detection, rather than actually prevent system programs from entering. That's why require had worked in there, because it wasn't completely cut off from the mainframe. 

Jumping to her feet, she fired several shots at each twin, which didn't hurt them but did slow them down a bit. Jumping down to the lower levels, the patrons that hadn't run already were now clearing out of the way so they didn't get hurt in the process.  

All of them, except for one. She didn't see much, pale skin so he was a vamp, regal clothes. 

And his eyes. 

Running for her life, she didn't have the time to look at his deep black eyes. Deeper than an abyss, darker than a night sky, colder than night. 

They were mesmerizing. 

One part of her brain cursed, knowing some vampires had powers like that. 

But it was too late. 

Two, upon seeing the vampire, knew immediately who it was. And there was a standing kill-on-site order for him. Drawing his M-16, his brother did the same but the vamp raised his cloak and as it dropped, he was gone, as was the agent. 

"Damn," Two said. 

"Agreed," One agreed. 

"Think he'll be annoyed?"

"Of course," he said as they heard Mero swearing fluently on the level above them. It was times like this; they wished they didn't understand as much French as they did. They smirked at each other and walked back up toward their pissed off boss. 

*****

Hummer looked around the small cell. This was possibly the worst thing that had ever happened to him. And it was worse still, because it was happening to Nat as well. 

The small child was asleep at the moment. Hummer tried not to move much as the boy dozed on him. He wasn't his kid, no but that didn't mean he wasn't going to give everything to protect him. The programmer, whom he had befriended soon after the other program became an exile, had entrusted him with Nathaniel. With good reason, he trusted him more than any other exile. 

Hummer found this hard to understand, it wasn't like he was the smartest or bravest. He just had an easy life and asked 'would you like fries with that?' a lot. McDonald's didn't pay in gold but it paid enough to keep the lights on and keep them in pizza. His favorite saying besides 'dude', or his tag and all time favorite quote 'programs are people too' was 'Carpe pizza' or in English, 'seize the pizza' he winced as his empty belly growled at him. If he didn't think it would wake Nat, it would have growled back at it. 

He hadn't chosen the name Nathaniel, but somehow it fitted the child well. He didn't have a designation as he hadn't ever been part of the system. 

Hummer's own designation had been (001 – G/F) 789-7267, now it was (NA-E) 789-7267 but he was still a 001. All exiles were, as well as most system programs. Any replacements, however were 001-2, this also applied to programs that had been reinitiated or were Version 2's. G in a code stood for governor. The /F was for fauna. All programs had much more complicated designations but no one but the mainframe bothered about remembering them. 

Even Nat had a full name. Hummer had given it to him, since he figured he deserved one as well, since he was a program too. Nat001, maybe he could put it on a license plate or something. 

At least nothing had happened yet, just the waiting game until Mero got back. 

***** 

Program (001 – SE-A) 001-5323-SE, AKA Stef Mimosa's eyes shot open. Looking around herself, she was in a dark alley, somewhere near the club. There were no signs of any other exiles. How the hell had she gotten there?

Then she remembered the vampire. 

"Where are you?" she asked of the alley, it must have been him who brought her there. Rubbing her head, she noticed the cut on her arm had been dressed. The material it was wrapped in was a thick, rich silk. 

"It wasn't deep, it's nothing to vorry about," a heavily accent voice said from nowhere. And the accent was Transylvanian. Looking around, she found her eyes fixed on a spot, the air slowly rippled and then he appeared. 

It was almost like he had been wearing an invisible cloak. But a moment later he was fully visible, a dark velvet cloak hung off his shoulder and trailed to the ground. 

The rest of his attire was stately, something befitting a prince or lord, albeit one from a horror movie or medieval time. Black pants with shoes to match, white shirt with red – blood red – buttons, an outdated collar, which disappeared under the high collar of the cloak, which was pure black at the top. His face was somehow ageless, not as pasty as the twins and completely captivating. His eyes were black but his hair was like living silver and came down to his collar.

"Thanks." 

He smiled, just a little to show off his teeth. "I didn't suck any, don't vorry. There was a drop of two that was around the vound but nothing more."

"Gross." That was just foul. 

"Strange taste." 

"Ew. Why did you help me?" 

"I was in there looking for a friend of mine who was searching for a missing member of my sect. I didn't find either though, and any enemy of Mero is a potential ally of mine."

"Yeah, I'm one of his enemies though getting on his even worse side at the moment probably wasn't the smartest thing to do at the moment. He's got two of my friends. Name's Mimosa by the way."

"Gud evening, I am Vorateu." 

"And I'm Creeper," a slightly wavering voice said from behind some garbage. 

Vorateu smiled, "I vas vondering vhen you vould make an appearance my friend." 

"Don't scream and I'll come out," Creeper said. 

Stef rolled her eyes, "I don't scream." 

A…creature crept out. He was humanoid, about four and a half feet tall, blue reptilian skin and knees bent the wrong way.

Most people would have screamed, or tried to kill it. Creeper stood beside Vorateu and nodded. He was probably used to people screaming at him, and they had just cause sometimes. But unlike Vorateu, he wasn't a vampire, he didn't need blood. 

"The Merovingian has your friends, maybe we can help. But we cannot talk here."

"I'll follow you," Stef said and Vorateu pulled a key from his pocket and opened the door to the hallway. She followed him down, and into a door she'd never been through before. 

It was a castle. And not just a mansion with a couple of suits of armor. It had brick walls and torches and the whole deal. Creeper put his hands on the wall and crawled off along it. Vorateu walked ahead and Stef followed the stately vamp. 

He opened the door to a den and sat in one the chairs by a large fire. He removed his cloak and let it rest on the arm of the high backed chair. Stef sat in the one opposite him, and her eyes drifted to it. 

"It hides me completely in the dark, I am no more noticeable than a shadow. Some of my brethren can do something like it as a party trick; it only works with humans though. This works with everyone."

"How can you help me get to Mero? And what do you want in return?"

"You may not vant to accept my help vonce you learn what it is I vant in return."  

"What is it that you want Vorateu? They are my friends, I need to help them." 

"There is an item someone took from me once, I want it back. It would mean so much to me and all of my friends." 

"Your friends? The other vamps?"

"Not just vampires, all of us from the first world." 

"First world?" 

"We are from the old – supposedly perfect matrix – most of us 'monsters' are, we were different back then, different to what we are now. Escaping it, which we had to do had a price, the price is that we appear as what we are."

"I don't quite understand."

"To put it most plainly. Our programming is incompatible with this Matrix. It changed us from what we once were to what we are now."

"What's this item?" 

Stef listened and sat back as he explained. "I will get it for you, I promise." She said after he finished. "Help me first."

Vorateu threw her a key; "this will take you to him. But I want it back. Creeper will meet you in two days in the alley we came from."

"All right." 

"You can use the door to this room. But be careful and close it behind you. Use it to get out as well, a normal key can't get you in or out of the châteaux." 

Standing and walking over to the door she required several more clips for her gun, just in case she didn't have time once she was in, including a clip of silver bullets. There was something about the silver's code that stopped a werewolf. She turned to look at Vorateu but he had disappeared, or was hiding under his cloak. 

Opening the door she clicked it shut quietly and hid the key in her jacket pocket. Keeping herself flush against the walls be less noticeable she paused to see what she could hear. From somewhere, but not that close, the irritating voice of the Merovingian's voice floated through the cavernous rooms of the mansion. 

They'd probably be in one of the cells, the chateaux had a dungeon. The problem was, there were various holding rooms on three different floors. She needed to know which one they were on. 

Not hearing anyone coming, she walked toward the nearest stairs that led to the lower levels. 

*****

Hummer woke Nat up when he heard someone coming. The child program shook his head and wiped his eyes. Hummer was angry for a moment, something that didn't happen very often. How could anyone want to hurt a kid like this? 

The Merovingian flanked by two vamps and an angel. Hummer shook his head slightly, why would an angel be working for Mero? Angels were as real as the rest, they had huge wings, capable of letting them fly, but most led rather angelic existences. He personally knew one who stayed near a church in the city and appeared quite often. Odd as it was for programs, the angels more so than most had quite an interest in religion. 

Maybe this one was satanic, he mused as he looked at the angel man dressed in what a high-class biker would wear. That and he had a tattoo of a pentagram on his face. His wings were gray. 

As one of the vampires unlocked the cell door Hummer stood and pushed Nathaniel behind him. He held up his fists (like he had seen in the movies), though he didn't have half an idea on how to really fight. The vamp shoved him out of the way and into the cell bars.  The angel came behind the vamp and restrained him. 

Nat kicked and punched as hard as a three year old could but the vamp picked him up and swung him over his shoulder. 

"Don't you dare hurt him!" Hummer screamed at the Frenchman as the vamp carried Nat out. The Merovingian came over and patted the top of Hummer's blond head like a child. 

"I did give you a chance. But your putain friend didn't bring the programmer to me, but fortunately there is a consolation prize for me."  

"I'll kill you myself if you hurt him." 

"Humming bird, you don't even kill bugs," he finished with an arrogant smirk as the cell was locked and they walked away. 

"Help me Hum!" Nat cried as he was carried away. 

"I'll try little dude," Hummer whispered as he went out of sight. 

For the first time in his life, Hummer felt rage. He kicked at the cell door until he was pretty sure one of his toes broke. Then flying off the pain of that and every other boiled over emotion he was feeling, he picked up the bed frame and slammed it against the cell bars until he collapsed in one of the corners crying. 

*****

Rounding a corner into one of the many halls of the mansion, Stef stopped when she heard some people coming. Quickly opening the door nearest to her, she slipped in before anyone saw her. 

***

"What was that?" one of Persephone's guards asked as he heard the door close. 

Persephone listened for a moment then turned to her two guards. "One, there was no sound. Two, both of you are paranoid. Three, I need a rest so go and bother my husband or something." She turned on her heel and walked into the library.

The guards, used to her mood swings didn't question it and walked away. 

***

Persephone looked around the library, there appeared to be no one else in there, she smiled. "Where are you?" 

Stef appeared from behind a shelving trolley. Her gun was drawn, but upon seeing the other program, holstered it. "Clairvoyant, I forgot."

Persephone nodded, "most do." 

"Do you know where my friends are?" 

"Yes." 

"Are you willing to help me?" 

"I am willing to help with anything that will annoy The Merovingian."

Stef smirked, "this will certainly annoy him." 

"They are in the dungeon three levels down." 

"Thanks Perse." 

"Your welcome. Say hello to Vorateu for me."

"How'd you know it was him?"

"I heard that he caused a disturbance in Club Hel." 

"How do you know him?"

"I'll tell you some other time. Hurry." 

Stef nodded and quickly headed for the nearest stairwell. Running down, she found Hummer huddled in a corner of the cell. Shooting the lock, she ran in a knelt down beside him. His right foot was bleeding and he was shaking. 

"Hummer?" Her voice shook him from his thoughts and his eyes snapped up to her. 

"He's got Nat." 

"Come on, we've got to get you out of here." 

"I think I broke my toe." 

"I think I'm gonna rip Frenchie's throat out." 

"Can I help you?" 

She shook her head, "which way did they go?" 

"I don't know, they just took him away."

"How long ago?"

"I'm not sure. He's hurting him kitty, I know he's hurting him."

"Come on," she said as she pulled him to his feet. She realized, not for the first time how much Hummer was like a big kid. But the look on his face now was far from childish. It was even beyond the serious side she had seen sometimes. 

*****

Nat was knocked out on a hospital type bed and he had two wires in his forearm that led over to Mero's computer. On his readout he looked at the young program's makeup. Everything was well disguised; it was all hidden and organized. 

Oh well, he'd have to experiment. He took a sip of wine and started to type away on his expensive laptop. He stopped and sighed; turning to his guard he shook his head. "I can't concentrate with you standing there, wait outside." 

The tall man nodded once and left the room. 

***

"This place is huge, how the heck are going to find him?" Hummer said as they crept through the halls. 

"I think I might know where he might be." Stef said with resolve. There were very few places in the chateaux where one could carry out…experimentation like this. Up on one of the left wings there was an observatory, but on the floor just below it was a lab. Mero would probably be there. It was two levels up, so they took the stairs. 

With every step Hummer took he looked like he was in pain. When they passed the next door she opened it with Vorateu's key. She shoved him through, "go home Hummer."

"I want to help kitty." 

"I can't be worrying about you. I'll get him." He nodded as she shut the door. She hadn't wanted to sound mean but Hummer wasn't that good in a fight, and she'd need just to be able to concentrate on getting the kid out, rather than having to keep an eye on him. 

Drawing her gun, she walked toward the lab. She saw a guard walk around a corner out the hall so she kicked the door open and ran in. Seeing Nat on the bed and Mero at the computer, she didn't hesitate before firing two shots into his back. He slumped forward, knocking over his wine glass as he fell onto his computer. 

Running over to Nat she carefully pulled the wires from his arm and went to pick him up. A gun being pressed into the back of her head stopped her. 

"I knew you'd try something like this," Mero's sneering voice said. She went to turn but the gun pressed harder into her head so she didn't move. 

"I shot you."

"It's called Kevlar agent, I always wear it. My guards aren't always around."

"I was close enough," the owner of the gun said. She knew the voice, what the hell was going on?

"Agent Brown?" she asked. 

To say that got a reaction would be an understatement. 

The man pulled on her left shoulder, grabbed her by her throat and slammed her into the closest wall. 

He was dressed in an army camouflage suit and had thick sunglasses obscuring a large portion of his face. "Don't you dare mention that bastard's name around me," he growled at her as her feet swung at least a foot from the ground.

If he wasn't Brown, who the hell was he? He certainly looked enough like him. "Who are you?" she asked as she pulled his hand away enough to form words. 

"Oh, has my original managed to keep it a secret from you? He's probably ashamed of me."

"Original? You're…a copy of him?"

"Eh, close enough. Carlson is my name."

"You were an agent?"

"The fifth agent to be precise but I'm not one anymore. Honestly you make me sick, enslaving the humans and putting them in this prison."

Obliviously he was insane. "If not for this 'prison' Carlson, you wouldn't be online right now."

"I was trapped in here when Tarquin died. Just because I'm here doesn't mean I have to like it." 

"Enough of this small talk. Just get rid of her so I can keep on with my work."

"Gladly," Carlson said as he out his gun away and drew a serrated army knife. Stef raised her foot and kicked him in the gut. Carlson blinked and placed the tip of the knife to her throat. "This is a code weapon, it'll kill you."

"I know what it is." 

"Oh good, then I don't have to explain that it tears apart code as easily as it tears apart flesh." 

"What on earth are you waiting for Carlson?"

The ex-agent shrugged, "nothing I suppose." 

Jabbing him in the eyes, he was forced to let her go but as he did, he slashed with his other hand and the knife caught her side, but not badly. Grabbing her gun, she tried to shoot him but he could still move as fast as an agent. Grabbing Nat she just ran. 

Bounding down the stairs she willed the child to wake up. 

Running into a hall, Carlson was less than twenty feet behind her and there were a trio of vampires at the other end of the hall. "Crap," she muttered, she couldn't take them all out. 

The door beside her opened, and Persephone stepped out. "What is going on?" she demanded, playing completely innocent. 

A door!

Perse gave Stef a barely perceptible smile; Stef raised her gun and aimed it at her forehead. "Move back or I shoot her." 

Carlson took a step forward. "I'm serious Carlson. Step back!" He stopped moving as Stef took a step toward Persephone and pulled the door shut, she pushed the borrowed key in and opened the door.

As she stepped through it a couple of shots hit the wall near her head. Slamming the door shut, they were safe. 

***

"You could have shot me," Persephone raged at the ex-agent. 

"I'm a careful shot," Carlson said. 

"You always get in the way woman," Mero said as he stepped forward. "You let the child get away. I needed that child." 

"And yet the fact that my life was just in mortal danger has no effect on you whatsoever does it?" 

The Merovingian shrugged and walked away. "Ass wipe," Persephone muttered after him. 

*****

"You actually did it," a voice said from above her as she looked around Vorateu's castle. Stef looked up and saw Creeper. 

"I did, thank Vorateu for me." 

"I will. Key," he said extending a clawed hand from his place above the doorframe. That's when it hit her on what he reminded her. A gargoyle. Creeper was a gargoyle. She handed the key up to him. "The multicolored one came through before, then went straight back into the hallway." 

"Thanks Creeper." Stef nodded to the small, blue creature and pulled out her normal key. Walking into the hallway she started the short trip up to Hummer's room. 

Nat roused slightly, then seeing a friendly face wrapped his arms around her neck and went straight back to sleep. Stef kissed the top of his head and opened Hummer's door. 

Hummer was sitting next to the door when she opened it. Seeing them both he seemed to deflate with happiness. He hugged them both and she passed Nat over to him. Requiring a small stack of bills she put them on the table. "I don't know if he's gonna try and get you guys again, take that and go to a hotel tonight. Get some room service or something." 

"Are you ok kitty?" Hummer asked, noticing her skin was slightly off color. 

"Some jerk called Carlson took a stab at me," she said wiping her side and showing him the blood. "A visit to Jones and I'll be fine." 

"Ok," he said. "Thank you for helping us." 

"Next time, can we just hand over whatever high and mighty exile friend you're hiding?" 

"You go it dudette," he said as she shifted away. 

***

"Stef where have you been?" Smith asked as she walked down the corridor. "You have been AWOL for hours." 

"Yell at me later ok?" 

"I wasn't going to…what happened?" he said noticing the stain on the side of her jacket. 

"A fight with a bunch of exiles. That's why I'm AWOL." 

"Exiles can be dangerous." 

"Yeah, especially jerks named Carlson." 

"Carlson?" Smith demanded. 

"He was the one who did this to me. Who the hell is he Smith?" 

"I can tell you later. I think you need to get that attended to." 

For one quick instant she felt like explaining everything to him. Just letting it pour out and let the pieces fall where they may. 

Instead, she smiled and walked on towards Jones' office. She didn't even need to knock; the tech opened the door as she reached her hand up. "Come in," he said, as he required the lights back up.

"Are you psychic or something Jones?"

"No, nothing so complicated," he said pointing to one of the screens. The displayed came back on and it was a code-scroll readout of the hallway. 

He turned to his laptop and started typing. A small coded model of herself appeared. Mostly green, with two red areas. 

"Code weapons?" he asked. 

"Yeah, a fight with a couple of exiles." 

"This is news, usually they either fight with their powers or human weapons." 

"Considering they work for The Merovingian, they probably have the best of what's available." 

"Do you have an ID on them?" 

She slipped off her jacket and removed the bandage Vorateu had put on. "This was one of the Twins, they're kind of hard to forget."

"And kill I've heard." 

"Pretty much impossible. That one, however was done by someone else." 

"Oh?" he asked with interest as he typed away. The skin on her arm glowed green and started to pulse. 

"Jones what the hell are you doing?" she asked, it looked like when she had almost overloaded. "That's not a good look." 

"Oh right, I forgot to warn you. It's not overloading, it's just repairing." 

"Don't scare me like that ok?"

The green-eyed tech smiled, "all right. You were saying."

"Oh yes, who the hell is Carlson? Smith said he'd tell me but I really don't feel like waiting for an answer." The glow died on her arm, so she pulled up the bottom of her shirt to look at the shallow gash. 

Jones paused, then started typing again. 

"I know he was an agent. The fifth he said, but why does he look like Brown?"

Jones sighed, typed some more until the glow started on her side then sat back in his chair. "We were brought online because of the first 'one', but he proved more difficult than anticipated so Ritter, Carlson and Adams were brought online." 

"They were copies of you guys?" 

"Basically yes, almost identical to us."

"What's Carlson's deal?"

"It was his fault the war started," Jones said then stopped to let that sink in. 

"How, what did he do?"

"He helped Abel Tarquin, the first 'one' to escape. He used the machines in the real world against us to rebuild his muscles, feed and clothe him, and then start freeing other minds." 

"How could an agent do that?" 

"The mainframe believes his source code was corrupt from the beginning, and a meeting with the Oracle probably corrupted him even more."

"The Oracle?"

"He had an encounter with her, things were never the same since." 

"What happened?" 

"Tarquin died, and Carlson went exile. He's been evading us ever since."

"Is he still helping the rebels?"

"No, it seems he's turned against them as well."

"Great." 

The code finished repairing and she left. 

***** 

The next day, she had something to do. She had to hold up her deal with Vorateu. Charlie had the item he wished returned. He hadn't told her exactly what it was, except it was a key that had belonged to him before Charlie had acquired it. Retrieving the Death Key from Hummer's place, she went to Charlie's room under the pretense that she was there to tell him what had happened with Hummer. 

But there was no need for a lie, as the Grim Reaper was out to lunch. Or out somewhere.

She opened the cupboard and retrieved the old-looking key. Pocketing it, she slipped out without anyone ever knowing she had been there. 

She opened the door back out to the hallway. 

But she wasn't alone.

"Help an old lady with her shopping?" the elder program asked with a smile. Shaking her head only slightly Stef walked over and took one of the bags off her so she could open the door. Placing the brown bag on the kitchen counter she turned to leave.

"Why are you running away?"

"I'm a traitor for being here." 

"You are a traitor for not shooting me so you may as well have another cookie."

"Why do you insist on being nice to me?" 

"Because I like being nice." She answered as Stef dropped into the other chair and dug a cookie out of the bottle. 

"Do any of them know?"

"Know what?"

"The rebels, do they know you're a program?" 

"A few suspect, most couldn't care less. One knows." 

"I don't even have to guess," she muttered. 

"Morpheus figured it out on his own, I didn't have to tell him." 

"He's supposedly intelligent and yet he uses a children's story to explain a complex situation." 

"Or wills c real." 

Stef stopped and stared at her. "What did you just say?" 

"That's the message you got."

"How do you know that?"

"Any day of the week there are a few hundred hackers looking for Morpheus, less are looking for the truth or an answer. You were of the latter category, seeking something but you weren't quite sure what. You needed to know what the Matrix was but weren't a major potential. Easily passed over for others." 

"So?"

"I found you, I told Morpheus about you. He didn't understand why I told him to do it but he sent the message anyway. It was your choice to answer it, if you hadn't…" 

"Then none of this would have happened. I've never have become an agent." 

"Some would think that that wasn't such a bad thing."

"I don't pay much attention to them." 

"How'd you find me?"

"It's one of those things that comes with being an intuitive program," she smiled.

"Then aren't you pissed I'm not a rebel?" 

"Morpheus was meant to find you, but not to keep you."

"What?"

"You'll have to trust me, it's just one of those things."

"You corrupted Carlson didn't you?"

"Tweaked you might so, his program was…is…unstable anyway." 

"Why?"

"Someone had to start the war, it needed to begin." 

"Why?"

"Million dollar question, I don't even know."    

After she finished her cookie she walked out into the hall. The twins were there. They all stared at each other for a moment. 

"Am I going to have problems with you guys?" 

Two shrugged, "Not unless you start them first." 

"Truce?" 

One nodded, "truce." 

Stef spent the next hour making a firewall on Hummer's door so only certain keys would open it. Then she found the guys and told them it was safe to go home. 

 The next day she waited in the alley for Creeper to appear but he never showed. Just as she was deciding whether or not to come back the next day the alley dropped a few degrees in temperature and she looked around. 

Vorateu appeared in front of her, dressed almost completely in black today. 

"You have vhat I asked you to get?"

"Yes." 

"Then give it to me." 

She withdrew the golden key and handed it to him. "What is it? You told me it was a key, and where to find it. Where does it lead to?"

"It's not for you to know at the moment." 

"Why not?"

"Someday you shall know." With that, he put his cloak back on and disappeared. 

"Weird vamp," Stef commented and shifted away.

"We actually got it back?" Creeper said as he crawled down the wall. 

"Yes Creeper we did, look," he said as he handed his friend the key. 

Creeper looked in awe at the key, "let's go then," the gargoyle said as he jumped from the wall. 

Vorateu took a normal backdoors key and opened the hallway. Creeper followed him around into a short corridor to a solitary door at the end. Vorateu placed the golden key in the lock and opened the door. He went through first with his friend close behind. 

The programs looked around at the wonder through this door. Vorateu looked down at the shorter program.

"We're home." 

The End.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cool, that's finally done. I had this idea before I started DL but it never got done. There will be more info and appearances by Vorateu and Creeper in fics to come.  


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